Observations Along the Roadhttps://cahighways.org/wordpress
Theatre Writeups, Musings on the News, Rants and Roadkill Along the Information SuperhighwaySun, 18 Mar 2018 22:20:48 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4A Second Chance | “Steel Pier” @ UCLA TFThttps://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14019
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14019#commentsSun, 18 Mar 2018 22:20:48 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14019Read More ...]]>Back in 1997, I remember watching the Tony Awards and seeing the scene from the nominated musical Steel Pier, with music by Fred Kander and John Ebb, and book by David Thompson.* I loved the dance, and I loved the music. The Tony Award voters didn’t, and the show lost all 11 nominations (including Best Musical, to Titantic, The Musical. However, I quickly went out and got the CD. I still enjoy the score to this day. However, the show faded quickly on Broadway, and never went on tour. In particular, it surprisingly never made it out to Los Angeles.(*: It is interesting to note that much of this team is returning in 2018 with a new show.)

Luckily, the UCLA School of Television, Film, and Theatre (FB) remedied that failure, including the show as part of its 2017-2018 Main Stage Season. It entered my theatre RADAR when I learned of their season (and I should note, given this show, I plan to go back to more of their productions). I started scanning Goldstar for discount tickets; when they came online just before we were about to sit down at Candide a few weeks ago, I grabbed them on the Goldstar app.

Seeing Steel Pier allowed me to continue my quest: to see musicals I have only heard. I find this helps me understand the story better. That was certainly true for Steel Pier.

For those unfamiliar with the show, it is the story of a dance marathon on the famed Steel Pier at Atlantic City. Dance marathons were the Survivor of the 1930s: couples would sign up and dance, continuously, for 45 minutes every hour, until only one couple was left. These marathons could go on for weeks and weeks. All this for a cash prize.

Kander, Ebb, and Thomson, working with Scott Ellis and Susan Stroman, used this setting of a story of a C-level celebrity, Rita Racine, the first woman to kiss Charles Lindburgh when he returned from France. Rita and her secret husband, Mick Hamilton, had kept themselves afloat through the dance marathon business, with Mick MCing the marathon, and engineering things so Rita would win. But this marathon was to be Rita’s last … so she thought. Her partner having not shown up, she teams up with a hot-dog aviator for the marathon. From thereon, the show is a marathon of dancing, specialty numbers, and romance, as we learn about all of the couples. We learn of Mick’s plot for Rita, her goals and desires, and who the aviator really is. We also see Rita finally decide to take charge of her life, seizing upon the second chance this marathon granted her.

I would tend to agree. In 1997, the NY Times would write: “Mick is set up in tidy opposition to the show’s other male lead, Bill Kelly, a handsome, enigmatic exhibition pilot who falls hard for Rita, his partner in the marathon. You’re right in thinking there’s something otherworldly about this fellow, whose presence tends to set off angel chimes and campy, harmonic celestial voices. Borrowed from vintage movie fantasies like ”Stairway to Heaven,” he represents, as one of the show’s songs baldly puts it, Rita’s ”second chance” at the life she wants.” Back then, 20 years ago, they were seizing on the spiritual aspect of the show. But 2018 is the era of #MeToo, of woman standing up to harassment. It is an era where, on the UCLA campus, they just canned a history professor for such behavior. Today, the show comes across as Rita finally standing up to the manipulator in her life, and kicking him to the curb rather than continuing to put up with his abuse. The aviator’s mystical return is less for him to fulfill his romantic fantasy, but more as the universe providing that second chance, that angel on her shoulder showing Rita that she deserved better, and she can have better than the marathon life.

Seeing UCLA’s exhilarating production of Steel Pier makes me think that this is yet another show that is ripe for a Broadway revival. Instead of trotting back the old-chestnuts (I’m looking at you, Hello Dolly and the forthcoming My Fair Lady), explore some shows that may have been ahead of their times, that provide interesting and entertaining new commentary of today’s situations — such as Steel Pier or Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle. The world wasn’t ready for Chicago when it premiered in 1985; by the 1990s, the OJ trial had made it relevant. #MeToo makes this show relevant and something to be seen.

Under the direction of Adjunct Professor Jeremy Mann, Director of Singing for the UCLA Ray Bolger Musical Program, this production scintillates. There are little things that I presume are directorial touches: a sardonic look here, a playful pause there, aspects of timing and movement, or even background character pairing (I distinctly think that I saw hints of gay characters and a lesbian relationship, which I’m sure weren’t there in ’97), that elevated this production. This production was at the level of a musical I’d see on any mid-size or large stage in Los Angeles — and considering this was student talent — that’s quite a statement. This director deserves credit for molding this student team into a remarkable ensemble. He was aided in this endeavor by Christine Kellogg, who had to work with the student talent to master the art of 1930s dance and the wide variety of styles — and like any marathon, this show had the dancers dancing on-stage for much of the show. A lot of work, and a delight to watch. I contrast this with the recent Dublin Irish Dance I saw. At that show, there was precision, but not fun or joy. Here was dance precision and joy and fun.

The talented actors in this show I expect to see again and again in productions in Los Angeles, and am sure they will have further success on Broadway and other stages. At the top of that list was the lead for this show, Shelby Talley (FB), who played Rita Racine, Lindy’s Lovebird. This young woman could sing and dance spectacularly, and she truly captured the dramatic aspects of Rita. This was best seen by watching her face during songs like “Wet” or “Running in Place”, or in the opening number “Willing to Ride”. She was just a delight to watch.

Her romantic interest, Bill Kelly, was portrayed by James Olivas (FB). We’ve seen Olivas before in 5-Star Theatrical’s Joseph, and were impressed with him then. He had a lovely warm singing voice, great dancing, and a wonderful acting style that brought both humor and emotion to the role. Again, watch him closely during the “Wet” number, or his playfulness during “Second Chance”. A delight to watch.

The other male lead was Jake Levy (FB) as Rita’s secret husband and marathon MC, Mick Hamilton. Levy had the thankless job of being an unlikable character. He did this very well, capturing the smarminess of Mick, the anger, the hatred, and the drive, without the problems that seemingly plagued Gregory Harrison on Broadway. He had a good singing voice, as well as good comic timing, as demonstrated in his number “A Powerful Thing”.

In the second tier of characters we have a number of specialty characters. As Mr. Walker, Mick’s assistant and henchman, Nick McKenna (FB) showed a remarkable comic flair, especially during the aformentioned “A Powerful Thing” number — his humorous looks and reactions and singing during that number were just a delight. Another notable performer was Claudia Baffo (FB) as Shelby Stevens. Stevens is the “seen-it-all” oversexed professional marathoner. She captured this well in her specialty number “Everybody’s Girl”, as well as showing the character’s tender side during “Somebody Older”. She was also a strong dancer. A third notable second tier character was Molly Livingston (FB)’s Precious McGuire. This was Kristen Chenowith’s Broadway debut role, and Livingston would have done her proud. She captured both the voice and the humor behind “Two Little Words”, and was a remarkable dancer as well.

The remaining second tier characters don’t get singing highlights (technically, the character of Luke Adams (Shelby’s partner) (Ty Koeller (FB)) gets a harmonica solo, but that was covered by the orchestra — in particular, based on his FB, by Scott Senior (FB), who did an excellent job). They do, however, dance and perform like gangbusters. Notable amongst this tier were the “brother and sister team” of Bette Becker and Buddy Becker, portrayed by Katie Emery (FB) and Calvin Brady (FB). Both could dance up a storm, and I was particularly taken by Emery’s dancing. Brady’s Buddy was more of an enigma. For a minute, just given the look, I wasn’t sure if they were playing on the sexuality of the character; later, I thought they were making it out to be a more gay character. Nothing was said; this was performance and look along. I think it worked well, especially for that time. Also notable, in a similar vein, was Marlena Becker (FB)’s Dora Foster, whose dance partner was Olympic Champion Johnny Adel (Justin Baker (FB)). There appeared to be points where Dora was being comforted, in a “very close” fashion, by another female actor (I’m guessing Shelby Barry (FB)’s Hannah Misiano). Again, I’m not sure this was in the original, but I thought it was a nice, in the background, updating touch. Barry’s Hannah was partnered with Grant Hodges (FB)’s Dom Misiano. Rounding out the named dance couples was Precious McGuire’s partner, Happy McGuire, played by Michael Wells (FB). He had a very touching scene in “Somebody Older”.

Providing a singing backup to Mick Hamilton were “Mick’s Picks”, a singing trio consisting of Nicolette Norgaard (FB), Naama Shaham (FB), and Aliyah Imani Turner (FB). For most of the show, they don’t get to do more than sing and hold signs, however there were interesting flashes of character during some of the scenes in Act II that I really liked.

Rounding out the dancers were the members of the ensemble, who created rotating dance teams throughout the show. The ensemble consisted of Toni France (FB), Sara Gilbert (FB), Haleyann Hart (FB)†, Kelsey Kato (FB), Charles Platt (FB)†, Max Risch (FB), Brandon Root (FB)‡, Olly Sholotan (FB), and Kelsey Smith (FB). Of these folks, the one that sticks in my mind is Olly Sholotan, who did some remarkable acrobatic moves in his dancing. [†: Dance Captain; ‡: Fight Captain]

Finally turning to the production and design credits. It should be noted that all production aspects have been executed by students enrolled in UCLA Department of Theatre Courses in scenery, costuming, lighting, sound, and advanced theatre laboratories. That said: The scenic design was by Tatiana Kuilanoff, and worked quite well: consisting of an area in front of the orchestra with a movable bandstand for Mick, and an upper level used for various purposes. Costume design was by Caitlin Kagawa and seemed appropriately period — in particular, the dresses for the ladies and the suspenders for the men. The sound design by Ryan Marsh was appropriately directional and there were some great sound effects; further, the amplification for the performers worked well. Zach Titterington‘s lighting design established mood well. Brynna Mason (FB) was the Stage Manager. There were loads of production staff credits, production crew credits, advisors, and such — all worked well together to do a great job.

Alas, I attended the last performance of Steel Pier at UCLA. Those of you who love Kander-Ebb should have been there; it was spectacular. This did put UCLA TFT on my RADAR, however, and I hope to be able to attend more of their shows. As a UCLA alumni (BS, ’82; MS, ’85), I wish I had known about this program during my years on campus — my theatregoing would have been much more than just going to Ackerman Union and buying tickets through the Mutual Agency for the Ahmanson.

***

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB) [the company formerly known as Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)], the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), the Chromolume Theatre (FB) in the West Adams district, a mini-subscription at the Saroya [the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)] (FB), and as of Friday, Ahmanson Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=140192In Which He Resembles a Broken Clock .. in Spacehttps://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14014
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14014#respondThu, 15 Mar 2018 18:44:22 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14014Read More ...]]>As you have probably figured out by now, I’m not a big fan of President Trump. I could easily list the reasons, but there is insufficient space in this post. But the President is like a broken clock, which does tell the right time occasionally. His recent “space force” proposal is almost one of those times, and doesn’t deserve the beatings that comedians are giving it. They are portraying the notion like Star Fleet, imaging battles in space and fights against space aliens. But that’s not what he is proposing.

This Vox article explains things very well. Think about how our military is structured. Originally, there was the Army and the Navy. Then battles began to be fought by naval groups on the ground, and a new organization was spun off: the Marine Corps. Aircraft were developed, and originally they were managed within the Army. But the segment grew to a point where it was working with Army, Navy, and Marines, and needed to be its own service. In 1947 (IIRC), the Air Force was spun off as its own service.

Now consider space. Our national dependence on space has grown: from GPS services to communications to imagery, it is vital to warfighting and defense. Space is primarily run by the Air Force, through the Space and Missile Command. SMC acquires space assets (satellites, launch systems, ground support) and provides the military and civilian support to operate these systems. There are also Army and Navy Space systems, and groups from other services that use space assets. Space is an increasingly contested area, both from commercial use, as well as other nations either putting assets in orbit, or attempting to attack or impede assets in orbit.

Trump’s call recognizes that. What he is suggesting is a new service, either at the Department level … or more likely analogous to the Marine Corps within the Department of the Navy. This would give increased visibility to Space and Space assets, especially as the Air Force has to balance funding between aircraft and spacecraft. On the surface, the idea makes sense. When you look at it closer, it doesn’t — not because Space isn’t important, but because Space isn’t yet at the point where it requires a duplicative bureaucracy and all the extra costs and paperwork that would come with an additional corps or service. As with the Cyber battlespace, it can be addressed best at the Command level, utilizing structures currently existing within the USAF and other national security agencies.

[ETA: My friend Miriam, over on FB, commented with a good explanation of some of the problems that exist currently, that a proposal such as this might address: “The problem is that the Air Force is doing a terrible job of meeting the space-related needs of warfighters. We have satellites on orbit for decades before warfighters can use some of their capabilities. And that is largely because the AF won’t fund capabilities that are needed primarily by the Army (GPS M-code) or Navy (comm on the move, various weather capabilities).” Having an organization that can focus funding specifically on space, and can better balance the needs of the entire user base, is beneficial. The question is what is the right way to do this without overburdening the bureaucracy, which can mushroom quickly in the military.]

So, in short, not as silly an idea as it seems on the surface, but one we don’t really need yet. Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=140140These Boots are Made for Walkinghttps://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14010
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14010#respondThu, 15 Mar 2018 14:38:40 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=14010Read More ...]]>A lot of energy is being spent by folks blathering on about how students shouldn’t have walked out, they should have walked over, or in general, not walked at all. My thoughts? I have absolutely no problem with students — of any age — peaceably protesting about any political interest that is of concern to them. It teaches civic involvement; it teaches that one can stand up to the government when one believes differently; it teaches that one voice can start a change, and many voices can bring about change; it teaches our youth the value of political involvement. As for missing school, more time is wasted on pep rallies and similar school spirit idiocies that teach nothing than an hour of protest.

I’m a child of the 1960s. I remember the days when students across high school and college campuses stood up to protest the Vietnam War, because it was their lives that were being used as cannon fodder by the government. They brought about a change in attitude towards the war, they changed society. I remember the days when students across campuses protested for civil rights and equal treatment for minorities, when student idealism brought societal change that benefited everyone.

They walked with Rosa to the front of the bus;They walked with Martin when he prayed for us.They walked with me and they walked with you;They done all shoes can do.

There are those who say students should walk over instead of walking out. Those who say the bullies should make nice with the bullied, and that will solve all the problems. Although that’s a nice theory, it is full of holes (perhaps .44). Those who have been bullied know, once bullying has started, the bully can’t make nice and the problem will go away. The distrust and the hatred has been sown. Bullying must be stopped before it starts. Further, it is an example of blaming the victim, of saying it was the bully who does the shooting. It is an example of diversion of the discussion away from gun regulation. It is an example of black and white thinking: if you walk over and make nice, everyone will forget about the problem with guns and we don’t need to do anything about them. Nothing says you can’t do both: address bullying in schools, and improve regulation of guns. Nothing says you can’t make schools more secure and safe, and regulate guns. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

The children will lead us on this issue, because they are the ones bearing the brunt of this violence. It is their lives, and they are taking control of them. They are saying never again. They are saying not here. They are saying that we need to keep guns out of schools — be they in the hands of students, visitors, or teachers. They are saying we increase restrictions on the most dangerous and deadly guns: make them harder to obtain, make those who own them legally more responsible for securing them, and going after those who have them legally. They are telling the gun lobby that their lives are more important than the lobby’s profits or the politicians they own.

The truth is that the rumored Allegiance tour has not yet materialized. However, the folks behind East-West Players (FB) and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) (FB) felt that this show was of such importance to the Los Angeles and Southern California community that they didn’t wait for a tour — they opted to mount a local production of the show. Why Southern California? Perhaps because Los Angeles had a large Japanese-American community before World War II. Perhaps because that was one community severely impacted by the forced relocations. Perhaps because Southern California was home to two of the relocation camps, at Manzinar and Santa Anita Racetrack. Perhaps because Southern California remains home to a large Japanese-American community. Perhaps, just perhaps, because the fear that led to the relocations is far too prevalent today, and we, as a community, must say what the Jewish community has been saying for years: “Never Again!”. Perhaps because the best way to ensure this doesn’t happen again is to teach how we can so easily let fear lead us to treat fellow humans as “less than”, and how that no one is “less than”.

In any case, we saw the February 2017 rebroadcast, and shortly learned that East West Players would be mounting a production. When tickets went on sale with a small discount while we were on vacation last August, we snapped up a pair, not even waiting for Goldstar. We wanted to see this show that much. And last night, even though we had to rush to Orange County afterwards for a Man of the Year dinner, we saw the show again. And, as it did the first time I saw it — even through a headache — the show moved me to tears, and left me choked up with emotion. This is that powerful of a show. This is a show that is a “must see”. That you must see for the moving performances, the moving story, and the message that we must never fear our fellow countrymen and women. As I wrote last February, this is “a time where there is an intense fear that a segment of our current population is dangerous just because of their religion, even when that segment are longtime American citizens. That makes the message of this show even more timely. Franklin Roosevelt, who was the President who signed the order, said the only thing we had to fear was fear itself. Then he gave into the fear, put US citizens into internment camps, tore away their livelihoods and homes, and regarded them as suspicious just because of their looks or their origins. It was wrong. It was unconstitutional. It was unthinkable. It must never never never happen again. And yet…. we have a large segment of our population living in fear of people because of their looks, their religion or their origin.”

Seeing the show just last February also allows me not to have to rewrite the synopsis; here’s what I wrote then, which hasn’t changed:

I guess I should tell you the story of Allegiance, which has a book by Marc Acito (FB), Jay Kuo (FB), and Lorenzo Thione (FB), and music and lyrics by Jay Kuo (FB). According to Wikipedia, the genesis of the show was a chance meeting in the fall of 2008 of George Takei and his husband, Brad, who were seated next to Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione. They met again at another show, had some conversations, and this led to the notion of a musical based roughly on George’s experiences as a child in the internment camps. I’ll also note you can find a more detailed version on the show webpage or wikipedia. In short, the show tells the story of the Kimura family from Salinas: the grandfather (Ojii-chan), the father (Tatsuo Kimura), and the two children: Sam and Kei. It starts with Sam, who is a WWII veteran, learning that his sister Kei has died. This opens us into the story and how the rift between them was created. We see the family running a farm and having an American life, and then the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. In short order, based on an agreement between the government and the Japanese American Citizens League, led by Mike Masaoka, internment orders go out, and Japanese on the Pacific coast are ordered to camps. The Kimura family has to sell all but what they can carry, and they are taken by force to a camp, Heart Mountain, in the wilds of Wyoming. We learn of life in the camp through a series of scenes, and get to meet two characters in particular: Lt. Hannah Campbell, a nurse at the camp, and Frankie Suzuki, another internee at the camp. Campbell is drawn to Sammy; Frankie to Kei. As time passes, the JACL convinces the government to let Japanese Americans serve in the armed force, in a segregated unit, for suicide missions. A questionnaire goes out that includes loyalty questions so that only loyal Japanese Americans can serve. Tatsuo refuses to answer yes to those questions, and gets hauled away to Tule Lake. Sammy volunteers to serve (against his father’s wishes), and goes on to be one of the few survivors from that batallion. Frankie, on the other hand, resists; when drafted, he organizes resistance in the camp and is arrested. The creates the wedge that drives the story to its conclusion. I’ll let you read the synopsis for more, but you get the drift.

Given we’re in the era of identifying “fake news”, I’ll note that Wikipedia relates that the show does conflate experiences across different camps for dramatic effect, and adds a bit more military oversight than existed at Heart Mountain.

The production at the JACC drew people from all over, including Japan and Australia. It drew elderly Nisei who were at the camps, and it drew their children and grandchildren to learn their parents experiences. We had the opportunity to talk to some as we were exiting the show; they found this production as moving as I — someone who had family experiences of different camps and different segregation — did.

Having seen both the filmed version of the Broadway production and a live production allows that unique comparison: Was this equal to or better than the Broadway version? My wife felt that it was. In general, I did to. Having live performance is always better than filmed-live, there is an immediacy — a feedback loop with the audience — that you just don’t get with film. I have a recollection that the Broadway staging was less dependent upon projection; this production used a lot of rear and surrounding projection to establish the sense of place (as opposed to more traditional set pieces). Was that better? I’ll need to think on that. Certainly the performances were equal to or stronger.

Under the direction of Snehal Desai (FB), the cast formed a believable cohesive whole. Desai had a hard task: there were few hard staging set pieces; rather, there were abstract boxes and such, combined with projections. Desai was able to make his actors help the audience believe that what wasn’t there was there. This is something unique to live theatre: realism can be eschewed for the imagery of the mind. The mind can create the dust-filled interment camp much better than any collection of flats and props can. Desai made the abstract become real.

The acting ensemble was a mix of actors who had been in the Broadway production combined with other actors and local talent. Circles numbers (e.g., ①) refer to the numbers on the image to the right.

In the most prominent position — I hesitate to say lead because he wasn’t the lead actor in the performance of the story, although his character was a leading character — as ① George Takei (★FB) as Sam Kimura/Ojii-chan. As noted earlier, this story was driven by Takei’s personal story. He has shepherded and shaped this production from Day 0, and is almost synonymous with the story (and it will be interesting how this story continues beyond him). But here we are focused on his performance, and for those who are familiar with his work in his younger days (e.g., (cough) Star Trek (cough)), you see a different side of the man — a maturity of performance that is touching. He captures so many different sides of a person, from the embittered Sam at the beginning, the joyful and playful Ojii-chan, to the changed Sam at the end of the story. It is his journal that the audience takes in this story, and it will deeply move you. And that, I feel, is in large part to Takei’s performance, especially in the final scenes.

[As an aside, given that if you search Takei, this comes up: What about the sexual assault claim? He has denied it, and the story seems not to have continued since it first came out in November 2017. More importantly, more claims since the first have not come out, indicating there was not a continuing pattern even if a single incident occurred. I wouldn’t let those claims color the story being told, for this is too important of a story to let such claims derail it. They will resolve in time as they are meant to resolve. Separate the art from the artist, and judge this show for the overall strength of its ensemble and story.]

In what I would call the lead performance positions — capturing the younger characters during the war — are ③ Ethan Le Phong (★FB, FB) as Sammy Kimura and ② Elana Wang (★FB, FB) as Kei Kimura. Both were extremely strong and believable performers, with remarkable singing voices. Wang in particular must be singled out: she had to compete with the memory of Lea Salonga on Broadway, and I’m pleased to say that she met and exceeded the expectations there. Both were just delightful to watch and to listen to.

As the father of the Kimura clan, ⑦ Scott Watanabe (FB) had the correct measure of old-school Japan to his performance, He also had a wonderfully rich voice that he demonstrated in songs such as “Gaiman”. He has been involved with this production since its inception, and it shows.

As the love interests of the main characters, ⑥ Natalie Holt MacDonald (FB) as Hannah Campbell and ⑤ Eymard Cabling (FB) as Frankie Suzuki get a little more fleshing out than characters in the emsemble, but not much. We learn a little of what drives them from the story, but the real embodiment must come from the internal backstory the actor creates. I’m pleased to say the actors do this well; they also have strong singing voices and give a great performance. MacDonald captures well the youth and naivete that Campbell must have had, being thrust into a situation unlike what she expected. Similarly, Suzuki was pushed into a different situation and had to adapt: from pre-law student to resistor. Both actors captured this essence well.

The last major named character is the head of the JACL, Mike Masoaka, played by ④ Greg Watanabe (FB). Watanabe captured the officiousness of Masoaka well. The character (in the story) was placed in an untenable position, and a continuing question is whether he should have protested more, of whether he could have achieved something more equitable in that particular society and that particular time. Watanabe’s character also raises — to the contemporary audience — the question of whether we can do more to fight this from happening again. I think that Watanabe captures this well in his performance.

The remaining actors form an ensemble that is at times unnamed, and at times becomes various characters in the camps and the story. This group consisted of: ⑩ Cesar Cipriano (FB) [Ben Masaoka (Issei) / Johnny Goto]; ⑬ Sharline Liu (FB) [Mrs. Natsumi Tanaka (Issei)]; ⑪ Glenn Shiroma (FB) [Mr. Masato Maruyama (Issei)]; ⑮ Janelle Dote (FB) [Mrs. Kaori Maruyama (Issei), Dance Captain]; ⑭ Chad Takeda (FB) [Tom Maruyama (Nisei)]; ⑧ Miyuki Miyagi (FB) [Peggy Maruyama (Nisei)]; ⑨ Grace Yoo[Nan Goto (Issei)]; and ⑫ Jordan Goodsell (FB) [Hakujin]. All are strong, but Goodsell stands out in my memory because he gets the thankless job of representing all the military soldiers at Heart Mountain (in other words, the personification of “the bad guy/the government”). I also recall Dote’s performance (at least I think the character was Dote) during the baseball scenes. In general, the ensemble provided great background personifications, great singing, and great movement.

Speaking of movement, the choreography was by Rumi Oyama (FB) (who was in the ensemble on Broadway) and was much less the modern dance one sees on stage these days, and more what I presume to be stylized Japanese movement. Whatever it was, it was beautiful to watch and conveyed the story well.

Lastly, we turn to the production team. First, I’ll note this was not a Broadway tour or transfer. Most of the production design team were new to the how, so this really was a remounting and reimagining. Se Hyun Oh (FB)’s scenic design was sparse: a few colored lights onto which images could be projected, a similarly projection structure surrounding the stage; a vague building-drop, with the rest mostly brought to life through Adam Flemming (FB)’s projection design and Glenn Michael Baker (FB)’s property design. Although being sparse, it worked — providing the ability of theatre to bring many locales and places to life through the imagination and through performance, not through realistic image. The sense of time, place, and at points, horror, was amplified through Karyn Lawrence (FB)’s lighting design. Time, in terms of era, was conveyed through Halei Parker (FB)’s costume design, which seemed appropriately period, although I can’t speak to the more Japanese aspects of the costumes. As usual, Cricket S. Myers (FB)’s sound design was clear and crisp, and provided appropriate sound effects, reasonably on time. Rounding out the production team were: Cesar Cipriano (FB) [Fight Choreography]; Andy Lowe (FB) [Allegiance Production Manager]; Bobby DeLuca[Aratani Production Manager]; Morgan Zupanski (FB) [Production Stage Manager]; Jade Cagalawan (FB) [Company Manager]; Nora DeVeau-Rosen (FB) [General Manager]; Shen Heckel (FB) [Assistant Director]; Lydia Runge (FB) [Asst. Stage Manager],

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB) [the company formerly known as Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)], the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), the Chromolume Theatre (FB) in the West Adams district, a mini-subscription at the Saroya [the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)] (FB), and as of Friday, Ahmanson Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=140010Updates from the Pod People Worldhttps://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13998
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13998#respondFri, 09 Mar 2018 19:36:50 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13998Read More ...]]>The following are some news items that have caught my eye over the past few weeks regarding the iPod, the larger iPod ecosystem, and the world of digital music:

Are Dedicated Music Players Useless? In today’s world of multifunction devices, such as your smartphone, is the dedicated MP3 player useless? The answer is a resounding “No!”, as this article shows. In addition to the 10 ways in the article, there are some even more important reasons. Dedicated MP3 players don’t use streaming bandwidth, and can be used in places where you have no Internet. They are also not visually based, so you can often operate them without looking. Being more narrow function, they are also usable in situations where phones are not (for example, MP3 players are not treated the same as phones with respect to moving vehicles). Lastly, if you upgrade storage, you can often have a much larger music library with you than you can even with services like the Amazon cloud or iTunes match, especially if you come in with a lot of preexisting music.

Upgrading an iPod. Stories about how one can upgrade a later generation (5G or later) iPod classic to use solid state memory come around periodically. The most recent iteration was The Verge and the Circuit Breaker Podcast having an article how to do so. However, they made one major error: they indicated you get the boards and supplies through eBay. Nonsense! I’ve had three iPods updated, and a 4th will eventually be upgraded as well, and in all cases I went straight to the source: the iFlash Adaptor site. I’ve used their iFlash Dual card for all three of my iPod Classics. They also have a useful blog with advice on batteries and memory cards. If you’re local to LA, I’ve found a good person to install the card, if you’re not a hardware person (and I’m not). Drop me an email or a comment and I’ll get you in touch with the person I used.

Digital vs. Physical Music . In the days before there was an iTunes store, how was digital audio and video shared? The answer is: via Usenet, and it was this new style of digital sharing — across a forum originally intended for textual messages — that led Usenet to its slow death, while spurring on the growth of the web and online music and video stores. Meanwhile, we’re seeing the death of the physical form for digitized media — CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays — in favor of streaming. This is a very bad trend, and we must all work to support physical media. There are a number of reasons. First, the physical media made available many rare shows and albums that were saved from obscurity. It also preserved additional information, such as directors cuts, audio tracks, bonus tracks, commentary. Those aren’t present for streaming media, and there is no assurance that rare material will be available for streaming. It is also much easier, with only streamed media, for the media content owner to make the content unavailable. You also can’t easily share streamed media with friends. It is a bad move for the consumer.

End of the Headphone Jack. The simple 3.5mm audio jack. It has been around for over 50 years, coming in with the transistor radio, replacing the large headphone jack. It is now starting to disappear, and we should mourn (if not protest) its demise. There are many advantages to this format. Being analog, it is not subject to restricted digital format or digital rights management. It works across all vendors, and you don’t need different products for different devices. Its analog signal is also adaptable, being used for not only sound but any electrical signal such as a card reader, health monitors, and such. By moving to proprietary digital connectors (as they did with streaming), vendors are tying you to using their product, and their enforcement of accessibility to your music. They are creating waste and making obsolete numerous devices, which often go to landfills.

Music Management Software. Those who use an iPod or Apple device have a love/hate relationship with iTunes. Often you must use it, but it could be so much better. Here’s a review of 7 iTunes alternatives. The problem is that none of them are iTunes replacements: it is unclear if they handle accumulated metadata, such as the number of plays; it is unclear if they can communicate with older Apple devices (such as the iPod Classic); and it is unclear if they support Smart Playlists. Often, these replacements aren’t too intelligent: they don’t understand synchronization, and they presume album-oriented play. That’s great for a college student with perhaps 50 albums; its bad when you have over 2000 albums and over 42000 songs.

Wither iTunes? Of course, the issue with iTunes may be forced. Apple has the ability to make your device obsolete. Just ask the people with first-generation Apple TVs, who are being disconnected from iTunes. Just ask those who use iTunes on Windows XP or Vista. Just ask those hoping to purchase iTunes LPs with additional album content. All have had, or will have, support discontinued by Apple. This is a big worry for me: Why does Apple have any reason to continue to support the ability to synchronize with discontinued iPods, such as the iPod Classic. It is one reason I will not buy an iPhone (requires the latest iTunes), and one reason why I haven’t upgraded from iTunes 11. I still worry that, one day, iTunes 11 will not work on Windows 10, or will no longer support podcasts. At that point, will I be forced to Rockbox, if it still exists? Their iPod Classic ports aren’t stable. Will I need to find a new media player, such as the Fiio Players? What will that mean for my metadata and smart playlists.

We’re going to a world where we may not have physical LPs or CDs for our music. As we age, what will guarantee we’ll be able to bring our music with us? Are we destined to copy our music from server to server (I hope you remembered that backup), or paying companies indefinitely to store it in the cloud? And when that cloud or drive goes “poof”, how will historians discover our music? Analog is essentially forever (or as long as the media lasts), but digital is remarkably ephemeral. Enjoy your music while you have it, for tomorrow it will be gone.

No, not that incident regarding Donald Trump, Gamesmanship, and Nuclear War. North Korea is so last week. I was thinking instead about the Russia investigation, Robert Mueller, and the 1965 Flying Buffalo card game Nuclear War.

In the game Nuclear War, the objective is to be the last player (country) standing, if indeed any country is left standing. Players/countries can be eliminated in two ways. First, the use of nuclear weapons can reduce your population to zero or below. While potentially more fun, this approach has the drawback that players eliminated through weaponry have the opportunity to retaliate — to launch a final strike with any available weaponry they can piece together. The second way that a player can be eliminated is through propaganda.

In the game, propaganda can be used to convince another player’s population to move over to your side through the media and other approaches. They move over through their own volition; you haven’t made the decision, and thus no retaliatory strike, because who (after all) do you blame?

Think about this now in terms of Mueller’s investigation, the election involvement the Russians had, and Trump’s election as President. Mueller may never find evident that Russia directly changed a vote in an election system, or that Russia never directly worked with the Trump organization to influence the election. To do so would directly place the blame on Russia, just as firing a missile would. Instead, Russia played the propaganda card.

Russia influenced the influencers of the election. They played an expert propaganda game (in disguise) to influence the voting public with fake news, conspiracy theories, misdirection, and so forth. They magnified issues, help deflect away from other issues, and timed the release of information perfectly. They might not have made people vote for Trump, but they surely made people vote against Hillary — or just not vote at all. (The Democrats didn’t help by having a field of intrinsically weak candidates, but they didn’t see it at the time …. and this made it easier for Russia to sway the conspiracies.)

Here’s the kicker: In the 1950s and 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, American society was worried about “commies and pinkos” invading our media just for this purpose. Had this happened then, there would have been hearings, and Russia would have been held responsible and sanctioned for the meddling. But today? Many in the party that was most concerned about the “red menace” couldn’t care less, because they meddling worked to put them in power, and to question otherwise would be to weaken the legitimacy of their control of government. Given the choice of defending their country, or protecting their self interest and positions, self interest and position win again.

This leaves the party that was traditionally viewed as “leftist” to be the group most concerned about Russian interference in the last election, and most concerned about their doing it again in 2018.

I bet you wish this was a card game now.

[ETA: After some discussion on FB, a friend of mine kept arguing about how Hillary Clinton stank. I wrote the following in response, which really demonstrates the game Russia was playing: Propaganda is the art of making people think they smell shit when they are really smelling a rose, and thinking they are smelling a rose when they are really smelling shit.]

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=139940A Jazz Great, Brought to Life | “Prez” @ Write Act/Brickhousehttps://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13989
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13989#commentsMon, 05 Mar 2018 05:52:43 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13989Read More ...]]>Two years ago, during Black History Month, Chromolume Theatre (FB) in the West Adams district presented a one-man show about Lester Young, the great Jazz musician. The wonderful performance here introduced us not only to Young and to Chromolume (where we have since subscribed), but to Leslie Jones, a very talented young man and musician. Unfortunately, the demands of facility scheduling meant that the production at the Chromolume had to close far too fast, and not everyone was able to see his great performance.

Recently, we learned that Jones was reprising his performance in a remounted production much closer to home, at the Write Act Repertory location in North Hollywood (one block up from where Vineland, Lankershim, and Camarillo meet). My wife enjoyed the first production so much she wanted to see it again, and so this afternoon we went to see it again. Unfortunately, my chronic migraines decided to make themselves known, but I was able to just listen to the story and the wonderful music.

What follows is an update of my writeup from the original production. Alas, the production pictures I have are from the Chromolume production, but the setup at WriteAct was essentially the same staging. This is a really great production, especially if you love Jazz of the Big Band Era (as we do), and love history, and love great one-man shows. This show is running open-ended on Sundays at 2pm, in repertory with two other plays by WIllard Manus, The Wicked, Wicked Mae West on Saturdays at 8pm, and Their FInest Hour: Churchill and Murrow on Fridays at 8pm.

Here’s the updated writeup on the show:

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I love music. My taste is broad and varied, covering numerous genres and styles. One of the many styles I like is jazz; my tastes run from New Orleans to Swing, Fats Waller to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. My wife is also a jazz lover; her tastes are even broader, expanding to Marsalis and Coltrane, and a lot of the modern artists. We know the Dukes. We know the Kings. When I learned about Prez, I was intrigued. Prez was a World Premiere solo show written by playwright Willard Manus, author of “Mott the Hoople” and “Bird Lives“. The play chronicled the unique life of jazzman Lester Young, whom I had never heard of. The press release noted that Young was a unique jazzman whose deceptively simple style–laid back, low key, relaxed yet earthy and swinging–-brought him fame, first with the Count Basie Orchestra, then with the likes of Nat ‘King’ Cole, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson, and his best friend and alter ego, Billie Holiday. Born in the Jim Crow south to a showbiz family, Young was a non-conformist who fought against racism and intolerance all his life, climaxed by his battle against the segregated army in WW II, an experience that affected his attitude toward life but not his playing, which never lost its creative spirit–-the very spirit of jazz. This sounded fascinating for both my wife and I.

Coming into the show, I knew nothing about Young other than what you read above — the information that was in the press release. Coming out of the show, I wanted to learn even more about the man and his music; I certainly plan to identify at least one of Young’s albums to add to my collection. Without saying anything else, I think that’s an indicator of good theatre: it makes want want to learn more about a subject or era; it uses its story to pique curiosity and interest. The show made me realize why Lester Young is probably the most important Jazz musician you’ve never heard of.

[I’ll note that while researching this write-up, I learned there was even more about Young than was in the play. For example, it was Young who originated musical hipster jargon, such as the terms “cool” for something that was interesting, and “bread” as a reference to money. His style of jazz influenced numerous modern jazz artists and styles, including Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, and Charlie Mingus. One website noted, “Whenever you hear a sax behind a pop singer you are hearing echoes of Young’s seminal body of work accompanying Billie Holiday.”]

Manus structured the story to be a one-man show. The conceit is that Lester Young, who was nicknamed “Pres” or “Prez” (as there was already a King, a Duke, and a Lady, and Young was a favorite of the people) was being interviewed by a off-stage French journalist (whom you never hear) while in Paris in 1959 for his last concerts at “The Blue Note”. Through her questions, he tells much of his life story — his ups, his downs, his successes, and his failures. The research I did when I got home from the show demonstrated that Manus captured much of Young’s life story in the presentation, although I did find a few places where the facts on the net disagreed or omitted some of the facts in the show (for example, Manus reported that Young served his Army sentence in Georgia; most articles have him at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas). None of these changes seemed substantial.

[ETA 3/5/18: The author commented with a correction: Luc Delannoy’s book on Young:”Pending approval, Lester was sent to the stockade at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. But a few days later the military authorities decided to send him to the stockade at Fort Gordon, Georgia. What happened during the ten months of incarceration he spent in Georgia will never rally be known. Lester always refused to talk about it.” So my comment above is more an error in the Internet (no big surprise there) than an error in the actual script.]

The success (or failure) of a biographical play with the solo structure selected here — assuming the subject of the biography is interesting — depends significantly on the quality of the book, the quality of the performance, and the quality of the direction. After all, dramatized vignettes of a real story can draw upon character interplay and dialogue and can spread the weight across multiple actors. Look at the success of a Jersey Boys, or the failure of a Chaplin, as an example. In a single-person show, the words must keep and draw the attention. The actor must not only inhabit the character, but become one with the character. He (or she) must be able to make you believe you are seeing the subject of the story come to life.

So did that happen here?

Storywise, I think it did. It certainly captured and help my interest. To my eyes, there was sufficient movement, music, and characterizations of others in Young’s life to keep things interest. The story moved at a reasonable pace from Young’s days with the family band through his time with Count Basie, the Army, and the Norman Grantz JATP era to his declining days in the 1950s.

It was helped tremendously by a strong performance by Leslie A. Jones (FB) (CDBaby) as “Prez”. Jones believably portrayed the man, capturing the internal pain as well as the external character of the man. He was also strong on the musical side, handling the drums, and Tenor and Alto Saxes well during the show. He never did a complete song, but essentially did samples of styles throughout. This actually fit well with the energy that Young had at this period in his life, where disease and drinking had just sapped his youthful energy.

In addition to capturing what seemed to be realistic mannerisms of the man (having never seen Young on film, I can only go with their believability in the context created for the show), he captured the look well. As I indicated earlier, when I got home I did some web searching to read up on Young. Both Young and Jones had similar facial structures, and in his pork-pie hat (another stylistic aspect that Young originated) and long black coat, he looked remarkably like the pictures of the real Young.

It really was a strong performance.

The last aspect making the show work was the direction of Daniel Edward Keough (FB), who also did the scenic design. The direction was spot on. I’ve noted before that in a good production, it is difficult to separate the actor from the director — to know what aspects come from each. That was true here. The two together created believable movement and reactions, from putting on records to the addiction to absinthe, from the mannerisms of clipping on the Sax to how Jones/Young moved through the room.

[Note: I had some scenic quibbles on the original production. Rereading this, I note they were all addressed.]

Turning to the technical and creative: I’ve already noted the set, which was designed by the director. This was a simple hotel room: chair, coats hanging on hooks, a dresser with a collection of liquor, and the horns and drums. This setup was sufficiently timeless to work. Similarly, the lighting design and production support by Alonzo Tavares (FB) was simple but effective. Where were no credits for sound design. There was no credit for costumes, so I’ll just note that they effectively appeared to capture Young’s unique style. Jonathan Harrison was the stage manager. Other credits: Tamra Pica (FB) – Producer; Jonathan Harrison – Associate Producer; and John Lant – Producing Artistic Director.

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB) [the company formerly known as Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)], the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), the Chromolume Theatre (FB) in the West Adams district, a mini-subscription at the Saroya [the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)] (FB), and as of Friday, Ahmanson Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=139895But Is News Chum Kosher?https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13985
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13985#respondSat, 03 Mar 2018 17:04:05 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13985Read More ...]]>Busy weeks mean the news chum gets pushed to the weekend, because I have no time at lunch. Here’s a collection of Jewish themed news items that caught my eye. As I say over on AAroads, ready, set, discuss.

Jews, SNAP, and Boxes. There is the oft held misconception that Jews are wealthy and have all the money. That’s a canard, spread by antisemites and believers in globalism and the New World Order (and all that implies). In reality, there are Jews across the entire economic spectrum, just as with any other religion. There are even Jews on food stamps, and if you think living on food stamps is hard, try doing it when you have to keep kosher, or have other dietary limitations. I was thinking about this the other day as I read the Trumps administration to distribute food boxes to SNAP recipients instead of food stamps. Under this proposal (which is included in the Trump administration budget request for fiscal year 2019), according to the article I read, most SNAP recipients would lose much of their ability to choose the food they buy with their SNAP benefits. Instead, low-income Americans who receive at least $90 a month — just over 80 percent of all SNAP recipients — would get about half of their benefits in the form of a “USDA Foods package.” The package was described in the budget as consisting of “shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit and vegetables.” The boxes would not include fresh fruits or vegetables. Thinking about SNAP recipients with religious dietary limitations made me realize that this box is setting up a church/state conflict, as the state is interfering with the practice of religion.

Feminization of Jewish Names. My daughter passed this one on to me, and it will be of interest to geneologists. According to the article, there’s a strange phenomenon that pops up surrounding the last names of Jews in the Russian Empire during the 19th century. A lot of them were derived from women’s first names, which is known as “matronymics.” The existence of last names like Belkin, Dvorkin, Malkin, and Rivkin, derived from Belka (Beyle), Dvorka (Deborah), Malka, and Rivka, were extremely common and represent a real idiosyncrasy of Ashkenazic onomastics (the study of names). This is of personal interest, as my last name falls into this category and local (Faigin, which would come from something like Fayglis). The article explores how Jews came to take surnames, and the sources of those surnames.

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=139850Headlines About California Highways – February 2018https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13976
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13976#respondThu, 01 Mar 2018 19:09:10 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13976Read More ...]]>What a month! For a short month, it has been incredibly busy. But fear not, I’ve been collecting headlines for you. Here’s what’s been happening in the Golden State over the last month:

@California_CTC Tweeted:. Commission adopts final list of cities eligible for SB 1 Local Streets and Roads Program funding for this fiscal year….

The ever-evolving 101 Freeway. The origin of the 101 Freeway stretches deep into California’s history, tracing a northsouth line through the state. It follows a path set by Spanish missionaries who traveled these parts long before the bear rode the flag, when America was still rolling westward. The course of the now 1,500-mile roadway dubbed El Camino Real (the King’s Road) has undergone many twists and turns as it made its inexorable march northward, deep into Washington state.

Caltrans, County Need to Replace Multiple Montecito Bridges After Storm Damage. Montecito residents and visitors will need to make some long-term detours to avoid condemned bridges that could take months to repair or replace. Caltrans, the state agency responsible for Highway 192, and the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department, which oversees local roads in the area, have long-term closures for several bridges and one-way traffic control for others that were damaged in the Jan. 9 mudslides and debris flows.

Old California State Route 41 on Road 425B. While researching the history of the Lanes Bridge crossing of the San Joaquin River I noticed an oddity on the 1935 California Division of Highways map of Madera County. Today California State Route 41 takes a crossing of the Fresno River west of the confluence with China Creek. Back on the 1935 Map of Madera County the crossing is very clearly east of the confluence crossing on what are now Road 425B and Road 426 in Oakhurst. CA 41 can be seen traversing southbound from Oakhurst on Road 425B towards Coarsegold on the 1935 Madera County Map.

Marin employers agitate for Novato Narrows completion. Marin business leaders say completing the Novato Narrows widening is crucial for the economy of the North Bay and they hope new funding sources can see the project through. Sources of cash from a state gas tax increase and possible bridge toll increase made getting $250 million to finish the work a possibility.

Local Control Of Highway 84 Moves Forward. A state legislator has introduced a bill that would relinquish ownership of a portion of state Highway 84 to the city of Fremont. The section of highway in question consists of nearly 3 miles of Decoto Road between Interstate Highway 880 and Mission Boulevard, roughly half of which runs through Union City north of Alameda Creek.

Metro plans new lanes for 605 Freeway, carpool connections to 10 and 105, but needs to find the money first. There’s no source of money — yet — and certainly no time frame for construction, but Metro officials are putting forth a $4 billion plan to attempt to improve traffic on the 605 Freeway. At a community meeting Tuesday at the Pico Rivera Senior Center, Metro officials said the project could include new lanes and connections for the route, which Caltrans recently called “one of the busiest and most congested highways in the greater Los Angeles area.”

Cap City Corridor Project. The CapCity Corridor (State Route 51 and adjacent streets) is the most congested corridor in the region. In 2016, SR 51/CapCity experienced over 2,050,000 vehicle hours of delay at a $27.5 million cost to users and had five of the region’s top 10 bottlenecks. As the region continues to grow, conditions in the SR 51/CapCity Corridor are expected to worsen by 2035. To address the issues in the corridor and better meet the needs of drivers, transit riders, freight drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians, Caltrans initiated the Capital City (CapCity) Corridor Project: A collaborative, interagency planning process that coordinates and prioritizes potential multimodal projects in the corridor. There is no single project that will solve all the issues. Instead, it will require a suite of short-, medium- and long-term multimodal projects with planning and funding from multiple agencies.

Roadshow: Fix for 101-to-87 fiasco is held up by lawsuit. Q: I had a dream the other night, and I am hoping it wasn’t just a reoccurring nightmare. In my dream I recalled you mentioning that there are plans to add a second exit lane from Highway 101 south to 87 south at the airport. When is that going to happen? The back up is outrageous. Good grief! It’ll be even worse when Google builds that mega campus near the SAP Center. I’m so frustrated. It takes easily 20 minutes to traverse this half mile every evening.

STATE ROUTE 138 (EAST) REALIGNMENT PROJECT. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) continues work on the $23 million State Route 138 (SR-138) East Realignment Project. The project is located on SR-138 just east of Interstate 15 to Summit Post Office Road. The realignment will remove several curves and steep grades reducing the three-mile stretch by one mile. The project also includes constructing outside shoulders, three bridges, and three wildlife crossings. SR-138 will remain a two-lane road with one lane in each direction.

Los Angeles Union Station Plans Possible $2 billion Expansion. Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS) is considering plans to add a new southern entrance/exit for Metrolink and Amtrak trains and build a new expanded passenger concourse. The Link Union Station project (Link US) will transform the historic LAUS from a “stub-end,” or dead-end station, to a “run-through” station by extending tracks south over the US-101 freeway, resulting in reduced passenger wait times.

L.A. County set to build its first new freeway in 25 years, despite many misgivings. When the Century Freeway opened in 1993, officials said it would almost certainly be the last of the great Southern California freeways, the final chapter in a romance with fast lanes that began just before World War II. It offered a good example of why the ardor faded. The 105 violated environmental laws, displaced more than 25,000 people and left behind a legacy of noise and pollution in some of Los Angeles County’s poorest neighborhoods. After decades of delays and bitter litigation, its price tag rose to $2.2 billion, making it the most expensive roadway ever built in the United States.

Last of iconic illegal immigration crossing signs has vanished in California. While politicians are embroiled in a polarized national debate over immigration, an iconic road sign cautioning drivers near the San Diego border to watch for migrants running across the freeway has quietly disappeared. The “immigrant crossing” signs have become obsolete, said Cathryne Bruce-Johnson, a spokeswoman for Caltrans. The transportation department stopped replacing the signs years ago because it constructed fences along medians to deter people from running across highways.

Stretch of Hwy 1 renamed after Charles Walte. A five-mile stretch of Highway 1 was renamed Friday in honor of one of the men who helped build it. The stretch sits between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo. Caltrans and other local leaders attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Charles I. Walter Memorial Highway.

Time to face reality: We need another bay bridge. With the terrible condition of Bay Area traffic, we need an additional bay bridge. Let us consider the statistics: Since 1990, the region’s population has increased by 27.5 percent to 7.68 million today. It is projected to increase by another 21 percent to 9.3 million by 2040. Traffic on our roads and bridges increases proportionally: the 300,000 vehicles per day on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, will increase to some 363,000 vehicles by 2040. The attraction of the Bay Area means this growth will not abate.

Gilman roundabout plans take another step forward. Business and property owners, along with cycling advocates and other community members, had a chance to weigh in Wednesday morning about plans to build two large roundabouts on Gilman Street where it passes under Interstate 80.

California’s last “immigrant crossing” sign is gone. Created as a stop-gap to save undocumented migrants from getting killed by cars on Interstate 5 near the San Diego area border with Mexico, the signs soon took on a symbolic use beyond the original intent. The last one appears to have been stolen and won’t be replaced. The Union-Tribune spoke to Caltrans designer John Hood about the sign, which was a replacement for an all-text sign:

Dark Caltrans signs on I-80 really do work. Every day, hundreds of thousands of drivers creep, cruise or occasionally zip along westbound Interstate 80, passing beneath electronic message signs that cost millions of dollars but are usually dark and devoid of words or images. And many of those motorists wonder: Do those things work?

Metro staff support a $6-billion widening of the 710 Freeway. Each year, tens of thousands of truck drivers make the 19-mile trip up the 710 Freeway from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to rail yards near downtown, carrying cargo bound for every corner of the United States. The 710 handles so much freight traffic from the ports that commuters on the freeway frequently find themselves trapped between big rigs or cut off from their exits by long lines of trucks.

Metro Board to Vote on $6 Billion Lower 710 Freeway Widening. This week Metro board committees are considering approving a distinctly backward-looking $6 billion project to widen the 710 Freeway through southeast L.A. County. It is difficult to believe that, in the 21st Century, Caltrans and Metro are still seeking to spend billions widening a highway in order “to improve air quality, mobility, and quality of life” per the Metro project website. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice Executive Director mark! Lopez criticizes the 710 Freeway project because it “does little to advance zero emissions, does little to ensure local labor is hired to build this enormous project, and will displace hundreds of longstanding families from their homes.”

Caltrans Kicks Off $1.9B I-405 Widening Project. Orange County Transportation Authority and Caltrans are heading an effort to reduce congestion on a busy section of Interstate 405 — also known as the San Diego Freeway — by widening 16 mi. of the 72.41-mi. freeway from state Route 73 in Costa Mesa to Interstate 605 near Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and the Los Angeles County line.

Roadshow: Help may be coming for Interstate 580 to Bay Bridge commute. Q: Please, please, please tell me there are plans to address the horrible conditions on Interstate 580 from the Bay Bridge through Oakland. No one ever seems to mention this. An extra lane would be so nice. Anything in the works or are we 580 commuters simply the forgotten ones?

Metro moves forward with plan to widen the 710 freeway. A Metro committee forwarded a $6-billion plan to widen much of the 710 freeway to the full Metro Board of Directors Wednesday. The agency’s Ad Hoc Congestion, Highways, and Roads Committee reviewed a version of the widening project that would expand a 19-mile stretch of freeway running from the 405 to the 60 to five lanes in each direction. Two truck bypass lanes would also be constructed in either direction at the 405 interchange, allowing goods to be transported in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach more efficiently.

Plan to widen south end of 710 freeway riles communities. A Caltrans proposal to expand part of the 710 freeway is stirring up controversy — again. This time, it’s not around Pasadena but at the southern end. The plan would widen a 19-mile section of the 710 from Long Beach to the 60 freeway south of downtown Los Angeles, displacing homes and businesses.

Expansion of the 710 Freeway Trudges Forward Amid Community Demands For Cleaner Alternative. The possible expansion of the 710 Freeway cleared two hurdles Wednesday afternoon as two committees for the Los Angeles County Metro Authority pushed the project onward to the full board. The debate was between two alternatives identified by planners, one (5c) costing about $6 billion and “alternative 7” which would cost about $10 billion. Both projects would change the current layout of the current 19-mile stretch of the 710 that runs from Long Beach to East Los Angeles.

Widening freeways is so 20th century — the 710 Freeway deserves better. The 710 Freeway is a congested, diesel-polluted mess of a road. Built in the 1950s and 1960s, it was never intended to accommodate the endless swarm of vehicles, and particularly trucks, using the freeway today. Seven days a week, big rigs rumble up and down the 710, hauling containers from the nation’s largest seaport complex in San Pedro and Long Beach to the sprawling rail yards in Commerce and Vernon east of downtown. The route can become so busy that trucks stretch bumper to bumper for miles in the right lanes, boxing passenger cars in and causing them to miss their exits. That’s one reason the accident rate on the 710 is higher than on other freeways.

NEW RIDGE ROUTE WEBSITE. Recently, I became a board member of the Ridge Route Preservation Organization. This group is dedicated to helping preserve and promote the historic Ridge Route in southern California. One of the first things I have done as a part of this group is to create a new website for the group. This site is an offshoot of the “RidgeRoute.Com” site, hosted by Harrison Scott. The new site will give updates on the progress we make regarding the roadway as well as any other news pertinent to the Ridge Route. Come take a look at “http://ridgeroute.org“.

HIGHWAY TIPS #2 – SIGNS. Road signs come in many different sizes, shapes, and colors. Each one carries a specific meaning to help guide you down the road in a safe manner. This installment will discuss each of the types of signs and what they mean. Road signs come in a variety of colors. Each color has a meaning, which can be quite important to know. The colors run from red, yellow, white, blue, green, brown, and orange.

One more westbound 91 Freeway lane pondered in Corona. Vehicles using the 91 Freeway toll lanes in Corona — and revenues from them — have far surpassed expectations since the lanes opened almost a year ago. But the corridor still needs some fixes, Riverside County transportation officials say.

710 Freeway may dedicate a lane for electric vehicles — and charge them while they travel. As part of a $6 billion widening of the 710 Freeway, a Metro committee is asking the transit agency to add a lane dedicated to electric vehicles — cars, buses and trucks — which would use wireless power transmission pads placed in the roadway to recharge their batteries as they travel. While wireless charging is being used at transit yards, including in the Antelope Valley to power electric buses, the notion of a freeway lane embedded with devices that continuously recharge a moving vehicle’s battery pack would be a first in the United States.

710 Freeway plan to include power for electric cars. A $6 billion proposal to add lanes to the 710 Freeway now has an environmental twist to it: a source of electricity embedded in the pavement to power electric cars. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who is also an L.A. Metro Board member, said the technology will encourage more zero-emission vehicles and cut back on freeway-related pollution.

Counting Down the Final Weeks of I-5 Construction. Work is finishing up on the I-5 South County Improvements Project, a $230 million widening of I-5 to extend carpool lanes from San Juan Capistrano to San Clemente that includes the complete reconstruction of the Avenida Pico interchange. The project is approaching several milestones in the last few weeks of work. Here’s a look by segment:

L.A.’s 20th century dream of building freeways refuses, even now, to die. If no one in 2018 would argue, as a young writer named David Brodsly did in 1981, that the “L.A. freeway is the cathedral of its time and place,” or that it’s the spot where Angelenos “spend the two calmest and most rewarding hours of their daily lives,” as British architectural historian Reyner Banham put it with almost laughable enthusiasm a decade earlier, there’s no doubt that both the practical and metaphorical meanings of the freeway continue to preoccupy Southern Californians.

Roadshow: New I-880 median needed for coming FasTrak lanes. Q: The construction on Interstate 880 between Highway 237 and A Street in Oakland is a mess. The center divider has been torn down, built back, and then in certain areas torn down again to add higher walls. Why not build the correct wall the first time? How many times do they need to do construction on the same stretch of highway?

Lack of Uproar in Long Beach Over the 710 Freeway Expansion—With 400 People Being Displaced—Is Egregious. This piece entirely altered within the span of two minutes while on my walk to work this morning. Its original headline was going to directly address Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who happens to sit on the Metro Board and will effectively be a part of whether or not the 710 expansion project goes through. (Don’t worry: if you’re on the west side and suffering from asthma, it’s going to go through so get your inhaler prepped for double-duty.)

The McKinley Home for Boys: 13840 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA.. Photograph caption dated August 8, 1960 reads, “Clay Johnson, 26, 16048 Celtic Ave., Granada Hills, alumnus of McKinley Home for Boys, 13840 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, peers through chain-link fence with student Mike Chacon, 9, at Ventura Freeway, a major cause forcing move of home out of Valley early next year. Freeway rolls to within three feet of home. More than 200 alumni paid final respects to 40-year-old home Saturday.”

Caltrans Will Rebuild Highway 192 Bridges Damaged in Montecito Debris Flows. Three Montecito bridges damaged in the Jan. 9 debris flows will be demolished and rebuilt, Caltrans said Monday, adding that Montecito-area Highway 192 closures will stay in effect until the bridges are constructed. Highway 192 is closed between Sycamore Canyon/Camino Viejo Road near Santa Barbara and Cravens Lane near Carpinteria, and four bridges along the highway were heavily damaged in the storm.

The Mammoth Orange, artifact of an era, to get new life at a fossil museum. A large, round and still-orange reminder of America’s fabled love of the open road sits outside a fossil museum in central California where the community is making plans to restore it. The Mammoth Orange hamburger stand – shaped like a giant orange – was a fixture on Highway 99 near Highway 152 at a place called Fairmead. It closed about 10 years ago.

Editorial: To address Bay Area traffic, build the tube, skip the bridge. Far-fetched transit ideas have a way of becoming real. Jammed freeways, sardine-packed transit cars and a bulging population are giving two breakthrough ideas serious attention. But one makes sense and the other should be tossed. BART is facing crush load capacity limits and its leaders are giving serious thought to a second Transbay Tube. It’s an enormous undertaking — likely the biggest infrastructure project ever in the region — but it could bring benefits in a variety of ways, not just a quicker commute ride.

San Carlos OK’s $7 million for Highway 101 project. Though San Carlos officials weighed concerns about how the Holly Street and Highway 101 interchange project might affect local streets, they opted not to delay it any further when they approved another $7 million toward the major infrastructure overhaul Monday.

State crews flip switch on new pedestrian crossing beacons in Vallejo. The state has activated new pedestrian crossing signals for the first time in the North Bay with a program launch Tuesday in Vallejo. What’s known as pedestrian hybrid beacons – officially the High Intensity Activation Crosswalk System, or HAWK system – went live at four intersections on Highway 29 / Sonoma Boulevard in the city’s downtown.

Signs of progress on Richmond-San Rafael third lane. Starting Tuesday, drivers traveling east on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge between Marin and Contra Costa counties are advised to ignore the green arrows and red Xs on the overhead electronic signs on the lower deck of the bridge, transportation officials said.

]]>https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=139760Nothing Moves Above Their Waist | “Dublin Irish Dance” @ Soraya/VPAChttps://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13979
https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13979#respondWed, 28 Feb 2018 05:02:14 +0000http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=13979Read More ...]]>Over the weekend, we closed out our February live performances with some dance: we saw Dublin Irish Dance‘s production “Stepping Out” at the Saroya [the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)] (FB). This is the “Riverdance” style of Irish Dance, although I must admit I’ve never seen Riverdance.

The production consisted of 8 musicians and 8 dancers doing what I presume is traditional Irish dance — at least that’s what they call it, although I have no idea whether the Irish dancers I know would agree. The music and the dance was technically brilliant and precise. It was beautiful to watch as they attempted to tell a story of Irish immigrants coming to America, back in the time when the Irish weren’t accepted as immigrants,

Although the production was technically brilliant, it left me… cold. I’m not sure why. The music was beautiful, and I listen to Celtic music all the time. In fact, the music sounded a lot like the recent instrumental Irish and Celtic Music podcast. The dance was precise. But unlike stage shows that I go to, there wasn’t a warmth being projected from the dancers. They were coldly precise — were they enjoying the dance? I couldn’t tell.

I think I’ll need to give this particular genre of dance another try, perhaps one day when I’m not as tired (my muscle relaxant was hitting me). It wasn’t that it was bad — it wasn’t at all. It just didn’t wow me as much as I had hoped it might.

To give credit where credit was due: The musical team consisted of Megan Burns [Vocals and Guitar], Kenneth Browne [Accordion, Banjo, Mandolin], Brian Murphy [Fiddle and Guitar], Conal Duffy [Pipes, Flute, and Whistles]; Ryan O Shaughnessy (FB) [Vocals and Guitar]; Oscar Little [Drums and Bodhran]; Marco Andrew Pes [Keys], and David Harte [Bass Guitar]. I do find it interesting that most of the musicians don’t have an identity on the Internet, not even as part of an indie Irish band. I did enjoy their sound quite a bit.

I find it telling that the program only gives bio on the choreographers. Musicians and dancers aren’t interchangable. Tell me something about these people. Celebrate them. Perhaps celebrating your performers over your staff will be reflected out.

***

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB) [the company formerly known as Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)], the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), the Chromolume Theatre (FB) in the West Adams district, a mini-subscription at the Saroya [the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)] (FB), and as of Friday, Ahmanson Theatre (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.